Toronto (September 28, 2026) Canada has lost a brilliant, innovative broadcaster and steadfast champion of new and independent Canadian music. It is with profound sadness that NYthespirit.com announces that on Friday, September 25th David Marsden, as he himself would say, ‘has put on his wings’.
David was born on March 2nd, 1941, in Toronto, Ontario. He was raised as David Michie in Stratford, where at a young age his fascination with music and radio began. As a teenager he produced ‘sock hops’ and became manager for local band, The Revols.
His radio career was extensive. David knocked on the door of at least 30 radio stations, and then got his start at CFCO-AM in Chatham, Ontario. After another short stint at CHLO in St. Thomas, David quickly jumped to evenings at CKEY-AM Toronto, now known as Dave Mickie. His outrageous presentation style there earned him a mention in media guru Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media. He also appeared on CBC-TV’s Music Hop and CHCH-TV’s Mickie A Go Go.
In the late 1960’s, David moved to Montreal and became David Marsden. He worked first at CKGM-AM, then moved to progressive rocker CHOM-FM. From there he returned to Toronto and joined the then free-form CHUM-FM. It was at CHUM-FM that David convinced promoters to book Pink Floyd in Toronto for the first time.
David moved to Brampton’s CFNY-FM in 1977 and became the station’s Program Director two years later. As “The Spirit of Radio”, the ground-breaking station began a journey as a free-form alternative outlet that would influence both the format and new music itself for the next decade and beyond. Rush penned “The Spirit of Radio” about the station, its people and programming philosophy. In cooperation with CBC Television, David brought CFNY-FM’s U-Know Awards to the national stage as the CASBY Music Awards in the mid-1980’s.